Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/479

* FAIR PENITENT. i.;i FAITH. riage to Lord Utainont, is found to have been educed by Lothario, who is killed in a duel with the; bridegroom, and Calista stabs herself. FAIR ROSAMOND. The name commonly applied l" a daughter of Lord Clifford. Sin- was the acknowledged mistress of Henry II.. and was .n.l to have Ik-i-ii kept by him in a bower at Woodstock, accessible only bj a labyrinthine ap proach, which the King followed by means of a silk thread. According to the popular account, she was discovered and poisoned by Queen Elea- nor : about 1 173 i . FAIRSCRIBE. In Scott's Chronicles of the Canongate, the friend and man of business of Chrystal Croftangry, and his assistant in writ- ing the Chronicles. FAIRSERVICE, Andrew. The meddlesome, cowardly, amusing gardener of Osbaldistone Hall, in Scott's Rob Roy (1818). He guides Frank Osbaldistone to Scotland, and thereafter fastens himself upon him as a body servant. FAIR SIDE A, The. A play by Jakob Ayrer, which Tieck considered to be the source from which Shakespeare drew the Tempest. FAIRY. An imaginary creature of small size, conceived according to popular superstition as dwelling in a region called Fairyland, and as having a special interest in the affairs of man. The term fairy, however, is also loosely used to include other beings of a similar character like the brownie, elf. fay, gnome, goblin, kobold, pixy, puck, salamander, sprite, sylph, troll, and undine. The character of fairies as portrayed in literature may best be understood by mentioning such typical examples 'as Shakespeare's Mid- summer Night's Dream, Spenser's Faerie Queene, Milton's earlier poems. Grimm's Marchen, and I he fairy lore of the Irish tales. Toward man- kind fairies are commonly regarded as being benefi- cent in the main, though sensitive, whimsical, capricious, and often prankish ; so that, they need to be placated and spoken well of, as in Ireland, where they are termed 'the good people.' But bad fairies also exist, and their influence upon chil- dren plays a prominent part in the stories de- voted to fairy lore. The imagination of the folk not only conceives of fairyland as a dis- tinct domain, but it peoples bills, valleys, rocks, streams, and trees with fairy inhabitants, or sees fairy footprints, fairy rings, fairy tables, or fairy horses in natural objects and in natural phenomena. Belief in fairies forms a phase of early folk- thought and it has partly a realistic basis, as in ancient India for example, where popular superstition transformed a lower race of inhab- itants like tile Nagas into serpent men and ser- pent women, dwelling in enchanted regions be- neath the earth. Fairy lore contains likewise cer- tain elements of ancestor-worship, of mythology, anfl of older religious beliefs which advancing knowledge looked upon as antiquated and rele- gated to the domain of the supernatural. The tendency of the folk to perpetuate the lore of the unseen world is very strong, and it is interesting to notice the changes in its attitude as culture progresses. A study of fairy stories is especially instructive in this regard. Extensive collections of these tales among many different peoples have 1" ' n made through the influence of folk-lorists. and scholars have secured valuable results in this interesting field of research. It is worth adding that the etymology of the word fairy has been a subject of some discussion. 'I lie ir to connect n wit i ian word peri is even older than Sir Walter So j ,,,! Ilir I nil n Supi P I UiOtl . but I he < )ld French fai rti, like out < IF. foe, Fr. fe"e, Ital. fata, Lat. fa-tun oints to a Roma ac in for this term I ciate I he word « ii h I In I Ing] i I; ad jei I i I S. /<"/> r i would n L a popula i ety mology. Bibi a i-ii i . VlacRitchie, The '/'< stimt Tradition i London. 1891 i ; Jacobs, Engh ' I Tales (London, 1893); Grimm, Deutsche My logie (Berlin, 1875-98); Keightley, Th< i Mythology (London. 1850); Hartland, Science <>i Fairy Tales (London. 1891) h u mil o/ {.merican Foil Lori (Bo ton, 1888 — ). Sec, also, FOLK-LoBE; MYTHOLOGY. FAIRY QUEEN. Sec FAEBJE Qi BENE. FAIRY RING (because the fairies wen posed to dance there). A spot or circle in a pas- ture or lawn which is cither more I I the rest of the liedd, or more green and luxuriant. Frequently a bare ring appears like a footpat i, with green grass in the centre, the circle which the ring forms, or of which it might form a part, being sonic yards in diameter. It is now ascei tained that fairy rings result from the centrifu- gal development of certain kinds of fungi, i i cially of Agaricus oreades (or Marasmius i ados i, Agaricus gambesus, Agaricus coccini and Agaricus personatus. The common mush- room (Agaricus campestris) shows a tendency to grow in the same manner. Probably the sp.it where the agaric has already grown is unfitted for its continued nourishment, and the mycelium or spawn extends outward to new soil, the fungus unfitting the soil to which it extends for the im mediate nourishment of grass, but enriching it afterwards by its own decay. Fairy rings large size sometimes occupy the same situation for many years. The circle is almost always im- perfect, some accidental circumstance having ar- rested the growth of the mycelium on one side For illustration, see Plate of Edible Fungi, under Fungi, Fdible and Poisonous. FAITH (OF. feid, fort, fei, foi, Fr. foi, It. fede, from Lat. fides, faith, from fidt >■. to trust ; connected with Gk. irdBeiv. peithein, to persui AS. biddan, Eng. bid). A theological term, de- rived from the Scriptures, and which should be conformed to their usage. Besides its use to sig- nify the whole body of religious convictions which Christians hold, faith is used in the New Testa- ment in but two main senses: (1) A conviction of the truth of anything. This may be an ac- ceptance upon evidence of any fact, such as a fact of history, and is hence often called an his- torical faith. It might be called a scientific faith, since it is the same faith which is exercised in believing, upon evidence, any proposition of nat- ural science. By this faith the existence of God is accepted, His truth is received upon communi- cation from Him, Christ is believed to be the Saviour, the doctrine of the Trinity is accepted. etc. (2) It is used of trust in God and Christ, springing from the first kind of faith, but involv- ing an additional element, which is the character- istic element of this kind of faith, the act of trustful self committal of the soul to I'hrist. It is substantially a choice of Christ as Saviour and Lord: an act, therefore, of the will par excel-